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Say Kimchi! Korean Food Comic

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

This illustrated comic will tell in fun comics the story behind

and the process to eat many different types of Korean food.

There is more to Korean food than just kimchi and that is what this comic will try to show through fun and informative storytelling in a comic format. The Say Kimchi! Korean Food Comic will go in depth into the food history, the process for eating, and give tips on Korean eating etiquette. The comic will talk about common Korean foods like kimchi and bulgogi but also explore some of Korea’s more bizarre foods such as various Korean street foods, live octopus, and even military stew (budae chiggae).

The story will be told by Jia, a young Korean foodie, who will try the various foods while explaining the food in a way that is relatable for those unfamiliar and familiar with Korean food. She’ll offer fun insight into the food and give important tips for eating it such as how to properly cut food with scissors, the drinking culture, and more.

Our goal is to draw 30 different dishes in color so this will be a 120 page book that will be in an electronic book format for Kindle, iBooks, and more. If this is successful, we’ll also produce a print version of this book which will feature maybe 4 panels per page.

The target demographic for the book are for young and old. We feel that the topic of Korean food is appealing for all age groups. We feel children would like this book for the fun illustrations and that it would be educational as well. We also think that people such as overseas Korean parents will also find this a fun book to share with their children for it will be fun for them to explain the food via comic instead of at a hectic restaurant. Also, we think all foodies will like this comic for it will let then quickly and enjoyably get familiar with this type of cuisine.

This is not our first comic on Korean food. In 2009, we worked with the Korean Food Foundation (Hansik Jaedang) to create a series of fun comics that explained how to eat the food. This comic had an initial print run of 16,000 copies and they were distributed at tourist booths and food fairs around the world. Within a year all copies of the book were gone and they didn't do any further printings. The initial concept of the book was to make the book available to Korean food restauranteurs that had difficulty explaining the food to those unfamiliar with Korean food. This comic unfortunately was not distributed to those that could have best used the book. Also, since this was a government project, we lost the rights to the drawings so we were not able to reprint or redistribute this comic for those that wanted it. Our plan is to redraw and further elaborate on the content of the book.

If the first print run is successful, we would like to translate the book into Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and other languages.

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About me

Daniel Gray is a Korean-American Adoptee that returned to Korea in 2005 to rediscover his roots. He is a Korean food expert that has appeared on Bizarre Foods, Parts Unknown with Anthony Bourdain and more. He does food tours, events, and consulting in Seoul and owns two restaurants: Brew 3.14 and Brew 3.15 in Seoul.